How is a smart metre connected?

[blackcloud]

Hi all

Just booked in for a smart metre, bit nervous if I am doing the right thing.

Also wanted to know if it will be connected to the electric with its own fuse spark isolator ie if something goes wrong with it that it won't trip anything else in my property?

Here's the current set up ie a photo.

Any advice appr

eciated

 

[EFLImpudence]

Just booked in for a smart metre, bit nervous if I am doing the right thing.

Debatable - not compulsory yet.

Also wanted to know if it will be connected to the electric with its own fuse spark isolator ie if something goes wrong with it that it won't trip anything else in my property?

It will be connected exactly the same as the present one.

 

[blackcloud]

Thanks. Is the present one on its own fuse circuit so if something goes wrong with it and it trips, it won't trip anything else in the home?

 

[Murdochcat]

I Thanks. Is the present one on its own fuse circuit so if something goes wrong with it and it trips, it won't trip anything else in the home?

How do you make that out?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Is the present one on its own fuse circuit so if something goes wrong with it and it trips, it won't trip anything else in the home?

Well, there is a fuse in the thing on the left but if it blows you will obviously have no electricity even though nothing on your consumer unit might have tripped.

Why do you think a smart meter will do this even though the existing meter never has?



Of course, with the smart meter a man at headquarters can switch you off with a few taps of a computer key.

 

[ericmark]

Against smart meter.
1) Can be switched off remotely, or converted to pay as you go.
For smart meter.
1) It allows one to have a split tariff.
2) Allows you to be paid for export.

I had one fitted, I find it hard to read, not a clue what these all are, the IHD (in home display) shows importing or exporting, but little else the advert is miss leading, no way can I turn lights on/off by clapping my hands, hey google works, but that is nothing to do with smart meter. The app on the phone took nearly 7 months to start working reasonably but the changing of the tariff to an EV tariff has saved me a lot of money, where I now charge my solar panel battery at night at 8.95p per kWh but this means day tariff went from 29.57p to 31.31p and the standing charge has gone down.

Typical day so use electric in the evening once solar stops, and in the morning on low rate, but rest of day hardly use any power, but unless you have solar panels, EV charging point, storage heating, or storage battery, it is unlikely you will get any gain from a smart meter.

Only real reason for fitting a smart meter is the demise of radio 4 LW is going to mean the smart meter will soon be the only way to get a split tariff, and also the energy companies are now refusing to pay for export without one.

If you have solar panels and a battery, the in home display (IHD) shown here will show you importing or exporting, but little else. It will not show if a kettle is being used, they don't use enough power, it will show when a shower is being used.

 

[blackcloud]

Well, there is a fuse in the thing on the left but if it blows you will obviously have no electricity even though nothing on your consumer unit might have tripped.

Why do you think a smart meter will do this even though the existing meter never has?



Of course, with the smart meter a man at headquarters can switch you off with a few taps of a computer key.

Just that in my last home, after a smart metre was fitted the electric kept tripping. May have been a coincidence but just thought that I wanted to have it on its own breaker, but guess that wouldn't make any sense really as if it was faulty as it's the electric metre then we would have no electric anyhow? Is that right?

Maybe best just leave it how it is. Everything works fine. So why change it?

Do you think it will become compulsory for everyone to have a smart metre?

 

[ericmark]

I did not want a smart meter, however although one can't be forced to have one, without one you can be denied split tariff and export payments, so it would have been silly for me not to benefit from those functions.

So if you have solar panels, a battery, storage heaters, or an EV you will need a Smart meter, it took 3 months to get mine fitted, so if thinking of getting any of those, then you will want a smart meter.

 

[ebee]

it took 3 months to get mine fitted

you shoulda fit yer own Eric it would only take you half an hour

 

[EFLImpudence]

Is the present one on its own fuse circuit so if something goes wrong with it and it trips, it won't trip anything else in the home?

You don't seem to understand.

The meter is not "on its own fuse circuit".
It is on the main supply cable delivering the electricity to your property so that it can measure how much you use and you can then be charged for it.
It doesn't "trip" and won't cause anything in your property to trip.
That's about it for the existing meter.

'Smart' meters, along with other 'smart' things these days, can do a whole lot more than that with the purpose of controlling what you do and when you do it. Ostensibly this is as usual said to be for your benefit but as with other things with that stated intention, it rarely turns out to be for the benefit of the customer but instead the benefit of those in charge.

 

[ericmark]

I understand in France your charged depending on supply size, unlike us with 60, 80 or 100 amp fuses, some properties only had 16 amp supplies, and with a fuse drawing 20 amp for a short time was not a problem, but the smart meters were set to turn off with a shorter overload time, and were switching off before the original fuse would have ruptured.

But this system has not been used in the UK.

 

[morqthana]

But this system has not been used in the UK.

Yet.

 

[JohnW2]

Against smart meter.
1) Can be switched off remotely, or converted to pay as you go.

It is true that they can do those things more easily when one has a 'smart' meter, but they still can be done even if the meter is 'dumb'.

For smart meter.
1) It allows one to have a split tariff.

It may be true that many (maybe even most/all) suppliers will only let one switch to a 'split' (dual) tariff today if one has a 'smart' meter, but I have a (long-established) dual-rate tariff and a 'dumb' meter. It's obviously the case thatTOU tariffs more complicated than 'dual tariff' are only possible when one has a 'smart' meter, but it is the customer's choice as to whetherhe/she wants such a tariff and, if so, he/she has to accept the need for the 'smart' meter.

2) Allows you to be paid for export.

That may be true (although, technically speaking, a 'smart' meter shouldn't really be required - unless the export rates vary during the day), but that is, in any event, currently only of relevance to a pretty small proportion of consumers.

 

[ericmark]

but I have a (long-established) dual-rate tariff and a 'dumb' meter.

Until the radio 4 long wave switch off. The rules mean you can't be forced to have a smart meter, but neither can the supplier be forced to offer a duel tariff. The old meter was easy to read and see if energy is being used, these were replaced by a more compact design the lack of the wheel turning resulted in it being hard to work out how much was being used at any point, the flashing lights replaced the wheel, but still reasonably easy to read. The smart meter changed that, they vary, but to read one needs to press buttons, and how these are used was never explained to me, as shown with post #6 it shows a lot of info which in real terms we simply don't need to know. The in home display is easier to read, and should show far better how much one is importing or exporting at any point of time, however in my case the whole reason for the smart meter was because solar panels and battery had been fitted, so for most of the hours I am awake, the IHD shows either import or export, but not how much one is using in the house. So to try an work out back ground load and reduce it, I need to use the solar panel software, this does show how much the house is using, 337 watts at the moment, and to further work out what items use, we need plug in monitors, this is showing me how much one upright freezer is using, before the more straight line was how much chest freezer was using, the defrost cycle of the upright causes the sine wave on daily usage.

But the smart meter is a day behind with the phone app, and is a simple bar graph, so yesterday I know I used 0.40 kWh, about 0.12 kWh first thing in the morning, and 0.28 kWh last thing at night, but for the rest of the day, no information. And the app does not show export, and does not match up with the solar info, which says I imported 9.3 kWh which since we had 4 showers that day, and charged a 3.2 kWh battery, seems far more likely to be correct. The shower uses more than the battery or solar can provide, so it may only show 6 kW being used instead of 9 kW, but we will always use power from the grid when having a shower. Go back another day to the 6th and app for smart meter shows 5.39 kWh and solar software 5.6 kWh there is some confusion at the moment as when the day starts, does it start at 0 UTC or 0 BST? which for the 6th will explain why they don't match. But since smart meter shows I have used less than the solar software I am not worried.

But the app shows what used each ½ hour, so not really that useful. With solar software I know my wife likely went to bed at 3:25 am and made herself coffee before retiring, and I can see my battery lasted until 1 am when I started to recharge it, and at the moment we has just enough sun shine to start recharging battery from solar, compare the info from solar to info from smart meter, and it makes the smart meter look rather dumb.

Not sure I want all that info, she can see when I get up to make coffee as well.

 

[JohnW2]

Until the radio 4 long wave switch off.

I've had E7 (always with a 'dumb' dual-tariff meter) for best part of 40 years and have never had a teleswitch. Way back, the switching of the meter (between tariffs) was by means of an external electro-mechanical time-switch but in more recent times, the switching has been done internally and electronically by an 'electronic' meter.

The loss of Radio 4 time signals is therefore of no relevance to me.